Martin Shkreli – a.k.a. the ‘douchebag CEO’ who hiked the price of a life-saving AIDS drug from $13.50 a pill to $750 overnight – has been banned from Twitter after repeatedly harassing freelance journalist Lauren Duca.
Duca has been a regular name in the media recently, after an essay she wrote for Teen Vogue titled ‘Trump is Gaslighting America‘ went viral.
Shkreli, on the other hand, has been making headlines for paying $2 million for a rare Wu-Tang Album, having a tizz at a couple University of Sydney students, and ‘quitting the rap game‘ after getting scammed.
Yet somehow, this bloke allegedly scored himself an invite to President Trump‘s inauguration (y’know, the same gig that no major celebrities are willing to attend… huh. I guess some mysteries solve themselves).
I would rather eat my own organs pic.twitter.com/IgeCRZqk8w
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) January 5, 2017
In addition, he: updated his Twitter bio to add that he has “a small crush on @laurenduca”, changed his profile picture to a doctored photo of Duca and her husband with his v. v. punchable face on her husband’s body, and updated his banner image to a beyond creepy (and frankly, unsophisticated) collage of photos of Duca, overlaid with lyrics from John Michael Montgomory‘s 1994 love balled, ‘I Swear‘.
Shrekli’s followers joined in, photoshopping creepy-as-shit images of Duca and himself.
@MartinShkreli @laurenduca I’ve made you guys a present! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/ZYddQvwu7s
— William S. (@SailorsCapital) January 8, 2017
Duca told BuzzFeed News that Shkreli’s harassment of her was an “ongoing thing”.
“He has been harassing me for a while. It’s an ongoing thing. He’s been actively tweeting about dating me.“I don’t know if he’s encouraging people to do this, but there’s been a small contingent of trolls telling me to sleep with him – but not that politely.”
Shkreli, on the other hand, defended his actions to The Verge as within the realms of normal behaviour (they’re not). He said he wouldn’t consider them harassment, and that the photoshopped images were similar to what people make about “Justin Bieber or any other celebrity.”
In dealing with this online bullshit, Duca went straight to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who banned notorious troll Milo Yiannopoulos after his repeated harassment of Leslie Jones.
How is this allowed @jack pic.twitter.com/Wof8MlYHTL
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) January 8, 2017
Why is harassment an automatic career hazard for a woman receiving any amount of professional attention? Question for @jack & also society! https://t.co/ULI570zV9n
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) January 8, 2017
Within a few hours, Shrekli’s account went caput. It’s not yet clear if this ban is permanent or not.
However, the harassment continues”
Men are now emailing, earnestly asking how they are supposed to try and fuck me if this is how I respond to advances. A puzzle for the ages!
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) January 8, 2017
And now I’m receiving threats that my “nudes” are going to be released. Here, trolls, let me save you some time: pic.twitter.com/RIpHO5bL2M
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) January 8, 2017
And this has been another fun episode of ‘being a woman on the internet’.
Photo: Blab.im, Twitter.
